A number of sports depend upon skillful swinging of a bat, stick, club, racket, or other implement to drive a ball or other object. Perfection of the needed skill requires development of reproducible physical characteristics of the swing. The swing characteristics of path, speed, and power must be optimized and regularized to achieve a reliable, competitive athletic performance level. Training benefits from the ability to discern which factors require improvement, to what extent, and whether or not improvement is being accomplished. The ability to measure parameters related to the several factors of the swing characteristics provides the ability to gauge comparative improvement in relative terms as well as the ability to establish norms or goals in absolute terms.
Bringing a cylindrical bat into proper contact with a baseball traveling along an unpredictable path at speeds approaching 90 miles per hour requires a remarkable combination of eye, body, and mind coordination. The manifold factors of stance, grip, the motions of arms, legs, feet, head, and torso, and ball path estimation all are essential elements of the swing. They contribute in cumulative fashion to the result of a good hit.
The speed of the swing of the bat is determinative of two important variables; (1) the force imparted to the ball, and (2) the time available to the batter to decide whether or not to swing. An increase in swing speed desirably increases both variables. Assuming that other factors are fixed, a higher swing speed will result in a higher hit ball speed. A higher swing speed allows the swing to be initiated later in time, thereby increasing the time for decision.
It should be noted that for a baseball bat swing, it is desirable to minimize the time elapsed between the start (decision to swing) and ball contact, thereby desirably delaying the point in time at which the decision to swing is made. This is in contrast to other sports, such as golf, where the ball is stationary and the need to decide whether or not to swing is absent. In golf, the sector of the swing arch which requires the maximum velocity is that just prior to impact. The time elapsed between the start of the swing of the club and ball contact is, therefore, less important than in baseball.
In the past, swing speed was largely a matter of subjective opinion or feel. The inability conveniently to measure swing speed made it difficult to judge whether or not a refinement or modification in a batter's technique consistently resulted in a higher swing speed. While the desirability of some kind of measurement was appreciated, the means suggested have been cumbersome, applicable only to simulated clubs or bats, delayed in presentation until long after the event, or more theoretical than practical.
The present invention is concerned with the practical acquisition, processing, and presentation of data related to the speed of swing of an athletic implement such as a baseball bat actually used to hit balls and the method and apparatus for doing so.